Overview

Inscription

Marks and Labels

Provenance

Cav. Antonio Piccolomini Bellanti, Siena, by 1811; by inheritance 1895 to his daughter, Signora Ciaccheri, Siena; presumably by whom sold 1895 to (Charles Fairfax Murray [1849-1919], London and Florence); from or through whom sold 1895 to (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); sold 1895 to George M. Salting [1835-1909], London; sold 1903 back to (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London); possibly sold to W. Newall.[1] (Trotti et Cie., Paris); sold 1911 to Arthur Sanderson, Edinburgh; (Sanderson sale, Knight, Frank, and Rutley, London, 14-16 June 1911, 3rd day, no. 621, as Petrarch's Laura); purchased by (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London) for Robert Henry [1850-1929] and Evelyn Holford [1856-1943] Benson, London and Buckhurst Park, Sussex;[2] sold 1927 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1939 to NGA.

[1] The sequence of ownership in 1895 and the possible sale from Agnew's to W. Newall are according to the Getty Provenance Index. The painting was Agnew's stock number 7418 at the time of the sale to Salting.

[2] Robert Henry Benson's notes on the painting's history (transcript provided in 1976 by his grandson, Peter Wake, and in NGA curatorial files) read in part: "It is believed that an emissary of [Dr.] Boda's tried to buy it but Agnew sold it to Trotti in Paris and Trotti sold it (I was told)...to Arthur Sanderson, then a prosperous distiller in Edinburgh. Sanderson lost money and sent it...for sale by auction. I gave Agnews a commission to buy it..."

Exhibition History

1904

Exhibition of Pictures of the School of Siena, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1904, no. 52.

1927

Loan Exhibition of the Benson Collection of Old Italian Masters, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1927, no. 96.